Publications

October 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

TH!NK: The Norwegian Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

On August 1, 2007, 61-year-old Jan-Olaf Willums' plane was flying along the Greenland coastline on his way back to Norway after intense discussions with several prominent U.S. venture capital investors, among them Kleiner Perkins and Rockport Capital Partners, about... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Auto Industry; Green Technology Industry; Europe; Norway

01 Feb 2002
News

Design Fair

Second-year students in Associate Professor Stefan Thomke's elective MBA course Managing Product Development presented their final projects at the tenth annual Design Fair in December. Among those who... View Details

Keywords: MIT Media Lab; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

Profile

Jeremy Sasson

specifications.” Seeking more influence on the customer-facing part of the product, Jeremy moved from software development into product management at DocuSign, participating in a View Details

Keywords: Tech

01 Jun 2016
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for June 2016

deepest human needs. The author suggests thinking like an entrepreneur as a way to improve one’s business, life, and relationships. Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg (MBA 2003)... View Details

01 Mar 2007
News

Daniel Vasella

portfolio of product lines, setting Novartis apart from its global competitors. Although initially regarded by critics as too inexperienced to lead a multinational pharmaceutical company, Vasella has... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; multinational pharmaceutical company; prescription drugs; vaccines; Medicare; generics business; Health, Social Assistance

17 Nov 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

How Activist Investors Became Respectable

influence that activist investors such as Icahn are gaining on Wall Street.) Carl Icahn made news last month when he announced he had accumulated a large ownership stake in American International Group (AIG) and said he wanted the company split up. His letter making... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Financial Services; Banking

Career Coach

Carrie Goodrich

Carrie pivoted from Sales and Trading to Strategy and Operations at DoorDash and, more recently, a Product Management Internship at Amazon. Given this, Carrie can help students navigate industry transitions... View Details

2010
Other Unpublished Work

Why Takeover Vulnerability Matters to Debtholders

By: Joan Farre-Mensa

Recent work documents that firms that are more vulnerable to takeover have higher borrowing costs. This paper investigates the reasons behind this stylized fact. My results show that firms with few antitakeover defenses face a higher cost of debt because lenders are... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Borrowing and Debt; Cost; Equity; Banks and Banking; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Shareholder Relations; Conflict and Resolution

SSRN

29 Jan 2021
News

Holding Business to Account

Photo courtesy Geeta Aiyer Photo courtesy Geeta Aiyer In the early 1990s, Geeta Aiyer (MBA 1985) was an analyst and portfolio manager at the United States Trust Company of Boston. Among her investments was... View Details

June 1998 (Revised January 2002)
Teaching Note

Baker Precision Instruments, Inc., TN

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Donald Rosenfield

Teaching Note for (9-687-052). View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Production; Decisions; Technology; Planning; Performance Capacity; Management; Manufacturing Industry

Career Coach

Ron Peracchio

Development. Ron was also the Senior Director of Career Development at MIT's Sloan School of Management. In addition to his academic experience, Ron has held several corporate positions including Staffing manager for Lucent Software View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Education; Manufacturing; Clean Technology; Energy

November 1995 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Massachusetts General Hospital: CABG Surgery (A)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and James Weber

A cross-functional team at Massachusetts General Hospital tries to reengineer the service delivery process (the "care path") for heart bypass surgery (CABG) in order to shorten hospital stays (and lower costs) while maintaining/enhancing the quality of care provided. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Business Processes; Mission and Purpose; Product Positioning; Product Marketing; Management Practices and Processes; Customer Satisfaction; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Fair Value Accounting; Ethics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts

22 Dec 2015
First Look

December 22, 2015

2015 The $13 Trillion Question: How America Manages Its Debt The Optimal Maturity of Government Debt By: Greenwood, Robin, Samuel Gregory Hanson Abstract—No abstract available. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 2000
Teaching Note

MarketSoft TN

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and John T. Gourville

Teaching Note for (9-800-069). View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Internet and the Web; Product Launch; Distribution Channels; Partners and Partnerships; Growth and Development; Management Practices and Processes

Shirish is the co-founder of an AI enabled predictive automation software company. and a Natural Language Processing company focused on enhancing customer experience through AI. In the past, he has been a part of the senior management... View Details

April 1994 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Laura Ashley (A): A New CEO Takes Charge

By: Richard L. Nolan

In a turnaround situation, a new CEO must take actions in the short term to gain control and exercise executive leadership and lay groundwork to formulate a long-term strategy to rebuild a viable business. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry